Like a street light at night, Ben Robinson illuminated the world around him with his smile, laughter, good nature, and overall presence. He cared about everyone he came into contact with – his friends, his family, his teachers, his classmates – and always tried to make everyone around him happy.  Ben played volleyball, loved his motorcycle, aspired to go into law enforcement, and was one of the smartest people anyone had ever met. Ben was described by his peers and teachers as, “curious, a hard worker, dependable, intelligent, hilarious, kind, adventurous, considerate, independent, respectful, and funny.”

Ben Robinson was taken from us on Thursday, December 7th, in a motorcycle accident.  Ben graduated from Sahuaro by the end of what technically was his junior year, in May 2023.  His life will be forever cherished by anyone lucky enough to know him.  He was the kind of guy who just wanted to make everyone around him laugh.

Ben’s girlfriend, Jade Christiansen, said,  “Ben always valued his family and friends. He had a calm way of watching over everyone, and always making sure the people he cared about were okay.”  Jade shared that she had known Ben for ten years before they started dating, which was just recently. She said, “…he was a good, genuinely good, caring guy. The only way I can describe it is that anytime I was with him, I felt carefree and happy. I never had any bad feelings around him.” She shared that Ben was, “one of the single greatest people in my life.  My favorite memory is more like multiple. Every morning at zero hour, he would wait for me just to hug me. And he gave the best hugs ever; he made me feel so warm and happy. He always seemed so excited to see me.”

It was as if Ben left a trail of ebullience behind him – like he had magical powers to make people’s day. A friend who Ben met in kindergarten, Jasmine Shryock, said, “He was so lighthearted and he might not have the best days at school, because he didn’t like school, but he never made you feel bad because he was feeling bad. That’s what I miss most about him.” Ben’s best friend, Jackson Brown, said that he misses, “his ability to lighten someone’s day by making a joke or doing something unexpected.” Kay Gabrick, a friend of Ben’s since kindergarten, reminisced on how Ben welcomed everyone in. She said it didn’t matter who it was, but if they “…came into the group to like, sit with us at lunch for one day, he’d make you feel so welcome. He was like a light to everybody.”

Even though things, like schoolwork, came naturally to Ben, he always gave it his all. Mr. Davis, Ben’s physics teacher for a semester, shared how attentive Ben was in his classes. “I just appreciated how he tried to pay attention, really was curious about the subject. Whenever I’d look out in that room his eyes were always…he was ready. He was ready for it. He would understand stuff; he wanted to understand stuff,” Mr. Davis shared. As a teacher, having Ben so excited to learn was, “…very encouraging because not every student was that curious. If there’s nobody in the room that’s curious it’s not as fun to teach. So it made the class real fun.”

Ms. Lange, his Sophomore Honors English and Journalism teacher said, “My heart is broken. I adored Ben. He loved to sit behind my desk and rifle through all my drawers until he found something he could toss in the air or bounce against a wall until I’d get irritated and finally demand that he stop.  Then we’d have great, deep conversations about anything and everything.  He was an over-achiever, so smart and witty, and just had the best smile.  Even braces couldn’t detract from it.  I’m going to miss knowing that I’ll never get pulled over for a speeding ticket by him (only to be let off with a warning I’m sure!).”

Another one of Ben’s extracurriculars was gymnastics and parkour (vaulting/jumping from one point to another in the quickest way possible).  Ben didn’t only like gymnastics, but he was also very good at it. “He was one of the only boys I knew in gymnastics. I hadn’t seen him recently so I don’t know if he continued it, but he was always very kind to all the coaches. He was really really good at tumbling – so good at tumbling. They’d ask him to be an example for younger classes and ask him to show us things,” Kay said. He would do flips randomly too – at recess, in class, wherever he felt like.

Ben also participated in volleyball, and in his first year playing, he was already a starter. Coach Haynes said, “As one of our starters Ben was always encouraging and seeking the best for his team. He was the nicest and the most caring person both on and off the court. He was also a gifted athlete, even though he had never played volleyball before he earned his spot as a starter and was an anchor for us in the front row.” But, as we know from Ben, he wasn’t just going to make an impact on the outcome of the game, he also, “…made a lasting impact on everyone who came into contact with him, and he will be greatly missed,” said Coach Haynes. 

Ben made all his classes fun, and one way he did that the best was through his humor. Jasmine shared, “One of my favorite stories that I remember about Ben is Sophomore Honors Chemistry, he would come in every day and just ask Mrs. Grasso the most random question. He’d come in and say, ‘So hypothetically if you were to submerge a body into a chemical to dissolve it, what chemical would dissolve the body best?’ and it was just random questions like that. Another time, also in chemistry, and Mrs. Grasso specifically said (we were doing a lab)…’Do NOT put this chemical on your skin, it will turn brown,’ and of course, the first thing that Ben does is put it on his skin and his hand was brown for like the next month.”

While Ben was almost always cracking jokes, he also had times when he was more serious, but still constantly kind. Jackson shared how Ben’s personality was, “…courageous. He stood up for what was right and he didn’t take offense when people disagreed. He also knew when to have fun and when to get work done. In class, he would work hard, but outside of school he liked to have fun and make jokes.”

Even though Ben has physically left us, the memory of his smile is engrained in many of his peers’ and teachers’ minds. Jade reminisced that his smile made her feel, “…so special and loved when it was directed at me. It made me feel so light, and he was nearly always smiling and laughing.” Mr. Davis said his favorite memory was, “Just his smile and – I can still see his face. He was always there. He was right there.”

Most of his friends and the people around him will miss the simple interactions they had with him on the day-to-day. For the people he cared about, he was so accessible because he truly wanted to be there for them. Jasmine said that she is certainly going to miss, “Just his overall presence. I miss him this year because we’re technically in the same class – he graduated early – and so even him not being around this year, I just miss him.” 

Ben helped the people around them become the best versions of themselves that they could be. He helped them, “out of their shells, just by existing,” Kay said. She also mentioned a more specific time when Ben helped her become more confident in math. “I was definitely going to not continue doing math in high school – like at all, but he helped me…I used to make really silly mistakes and he used to be very patient with me, like still made jokes while doing the math with me, but he’d help me through it. So that’s probably why I understand algebra so well, because he helped me with it.” Jackson shared that Ben changed him the most by, “…making me more aware of other people and the things that they might be going through and be more sensitive to it.”

Ben was struck with wanderlust – he wanted to travel, he wanted to explore, he wanted to adventure. He made it his goal to make people smile, and it always seemed like he wanted everyone to be comfortable. He never wanted any room or situation to be tense, and he always knew how to keep it loving and light.

On behalf of all Cougars – Once a Cougar, always a Cougar.  Ben, you will remain forever in our hearts, and we will miss you.